Cotton waste retainer for railway journal boxes



Jan. 24, 1950 P. A. FISHER ET AL COTTON WASTE RETAINER FOR RAILWAYJOURNAL BOXES Filed Sept. 15, 1946 Pius H. fisher and Edwin 1. I6 hea,

Patented Jan. 24, 1950 Pius A. Fisher, Kansas City, Md,- and Edwin T.

. Shea; Kansas City; Kans.

Application September 13, 1946, Serial No. clients 2 Glaims. r01.ans-i9) Our invention relates I to waste retainers for use in thejournal boxes of ra'lway cars in babbitt bearings are used. At thepresent time considerable trouble and eypense is causedby particles ofcotton waste workinginbetween the bearing (usually termed the brass) andthe journal. These particles wipe the lubricant in the journal box fromthe journal during rotation of the latter, with the result that a hot.-box is soon developed. which will cause destruction of the bearingunless the train is stopped in time and the trouble is rectified. Byequipping the journal boxes with our devices the cotton waste isretained in its proper place in the lower portions of the boxes andprevented from work-, ing in between the bearings and the associatedjournals. 7

Our devices are so constructed that they can be readily installed orremoved from the journal boxes without disturbing any parts of thelatter. The devices are of simple andinexpensive construction and sincethere is little or no" wear thereon will last over a long period oftime.

Other features will hereinafter appear and in order that the inventionmay be fully understood reference will now be had to the accompanyingdrawing, in which:

Fig. l is a cross section of the journal box on line l--l of Fig 2, withour device and the journal in position therein, the journal being partlyin section.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the journal box with thejournal and our device arranged therein.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the devices.

Referring in detail to the different parts-disclosed by Figs. 1 to 3,inclusive, 2 designates. a journal box which may be of any preferred orconventional form. Mounted in the journal box 2 is a journal 4 having acollar 6 at one end. Mounted upon the journal 4 is the usual brass orbearing 8, which is curved at its under babbitted portion to snugly fitthe journal 4, where it is held by a wedge l0. Lateral and longitudinalmovements of the journal bearing 8 upon the journal 4 is prevented bythe usual lugs l2 formed integral with opposite sides of the bearing 8,and lugs l4 formed integral with the inner side walls of the journal box2.

The foregoing construction of the journal box and the interior partsthereof may be of conventional construction.

Referring now more particularly to our invention, l6 designates ourdevice which, preferably but not necessarily, consists of one piece oftubing l'l be'nt sutstantiany into tlfl form Shown by Fig. 3. The eviceis approximatd of uform' when news from the front end, which lattercomprises a transverse element 58, formed I into a tense spring 20intermediate its ease for a purpose which will hereinafter appear. Theopposite ends or the transverse element were bent upwardly a shortdistance as indicated at 22, thence backwardly to provide lowerlongitudinal members 2 5 which are curved upwardly and rearvvardly attheir rear ends to provide elements 25, the upper ends or which are bentforwardly to prdvide up erl'ongitudinm mem bers 28:, which are,=bent'downward to provide front elements 30., fixed at theirlowerends to thelower longitudinal members 24. The front elements 30 are arranged farenough from the transverse element I8 to admit the journal collar 6', asshown by Fig. ,2. without contactingsj'a i'd' collar. The rear and'front elements 26 and 38, respectively, are inclined upwardly to bringthe upper I longitudinal members 28 closer together than the respectivelower longitudinal members 24 for a purpose which will hereinafterappear. Preferably the longitudinal members 24 and 28 are arrangedapproximately in parallelism as shown. The uppermembers 28 are providedwith longitudinal slots 32, in which the outer longitudinal edges ofrespective babbitt bearing members 34 are firmly secured by pressing thesides of the slots 32 toward each other to firmly grip said bearingmembers 34, the inner'confronting edges of which latter have series ofnotches 36.

By bending the tubing H as above described. a pair of approximatelyrectangular longitudinal frames 38 are provided.

In practice, the upper longitudinal members 28 of the respective frames38 are grasped and spread apart to permit the rear elements 2s to passthe diametrically opposite sides of the journal collar 6, as the deviceis inserted through the customary front opening (not shown) in thejournal box 2 and pushed backwardly until the transverse element l8almost touches the journal collar 6. The device is then released topermit the frames 38 to be sprung toward each other by the coil spring20 until the notched edges 36 of the bearing members 34 grip oppositesides of the journal 4 at points just below the oppositely disposedlower surfaces 40 of the journal bearing 8, and the upper longitudinalmembers 28 bear against the surfaces 40, as shown by Fig. 1. Thus thedevice is reliably held in place and prevented from shifting about inthe journal box or coming into contact with the journal 4, except withthe bearing members 34, as above described. When the device is beingpushed back into the journal box 2, the inclined rear elements 25 slideover the usual supply of cotton waste without disturbing the latter, andwhen the device is released it presses down upon the cotton Waste andholds it in place. When in position in the journal box 2 no part of theframes 38 are in contact with the journal 4, the collar 5, or the innerwalls of the journal box 2, so that the only wear on the device will bealong the notched edges 36 of the bearing members 3 3. When the bearingmembers 34 become worn out the device is removed from the journal box sothat the worn out bearing members may be removed from the slots 32 andreplaced by new bearing members.

When the device is in position in the journal box as stated, the bearingmembers 34 effectively prevent any of the cotton waste from workingbetween the journal 4 and the journal bearing 8, so that undue wear ofsaid journal bearing 8 is prevented. The notches 36 permit lubricant inthe journal box to be carried upward between the rotating journal 4 andthe journal bearing 8, thereby preventing the latter from becomingoverheated for lack of a lubricant. Y

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the drawing itis apparent that we have provided simple, efiicient and inexpensivedevices possessing the advantages above pointed out, and while we haveshown a preferred form of our invention we reserve all rights to suchchanges or modifications thereof as properly fall within the spirit andscope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is:

1. A waste retainer insertable horizontally in a journal box, comprisingone piece of tubing bent to provide a pair of approximately rectangularside frames spaced apart and comprising a pair of lower longitudinalmembers, a pair of upper longitudinal members, front and rear elementsconnecting the longitudinal members of each frame, the lowerlongitudinal members extending forward a predetermined distance beyondsaid front elements, a resilient transverse member connecting theforward ends of the lower longitudinal extensions, and confrontingbearing members secured to the upper longitudinal members and adapted tobear against a journal.

2. The combination with a journal box, a journal in said journal box,and a brass mounted upon said journal and projecting laterall beyondopposite sides thereof; of a pair of approximately rectangular. framesspaced apart and arranged at opposite sides of the journal, saidrectangular frames including upper horizontal members adapted to bearagainst the under surface of the laterally projecting portions of thebrass, bearing members secured to said horizontal members and providedwith confronting notched edges, and a resilient transverse memberconnecting the frames and adapted to press them towards each other andthereby press the foregoing notched surfaces against opposite sides ofthe journal.

PIUS A. FISHER. EDWIN T. SHEA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 17,972 Miller Feb. 17, 19311,058,060 Hyle Apr. 8, 1913 1,941,486 Pilcher Jan. 2, 1934 2,066,593Walker Jan. 5, 1937 2,125,141 Yancey July 26, 1938 2,214,727 Gewin Sep.17, 1940 2,328,883 Wilson Sep. 7, 1943 2,357,233 Sohaney Aug. 29, 1944

